Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Review - Riddick (2013)

Riddick is the third installment of the Riddick series. Despite the flaws of the previous films Pitch Black (2000) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), I found them quite enjoyable nonetheless. Based on the early reviews, I thought well maybe this installment would be as enjoyable but instead I ended up loathing this movie.

This movie takes place five years after The Chronicles of Riddick. Riddick (Vin Diesel) is now Lord Marshall of the Necromongers but refuses to swear into their faith. In exchange for the location of the planet Furya, he strikes a deal with Vaako but is soon double crossed, and left on a deserted planet. As you probably know, the character Riddick is a hunted fugitive with a huge bounty on his head. He is stuck on the planet so he quickly devises a plan to draw bounty hunters there so he can "hop" a ride home.

First and foremost, I did not like this film's cinematography. I know it takes place on a desolate planet but that is not reason to sacrifice a fitting color palette. Visually, Riddick was not pleasing; every damn thing was sepia sepia sepia. It not only made the film look ridiculously cheap, but was also distracting. Speaking of cheap -- the CGI effects were horrible. Horrible. The setting, the various creatures, and even a few action sequences looked really bad.

I really like Vin Diesel as Riddick - his eyes still look super cool in the dark. Unfortunately for Vin, he was placed on this planet and given a basket to carry water. After a disjointed opening sequence, the movie transitioned into a lame game of hide and seek between him and the bounty hunters, then transitioned into a predictable fight for survival. There were instances where I found myself cringing at the dialogue -- I really don't believe this movie had an actual script. The storyline reminded me a bit more of Pitch Black but the supporting actors were so poorly developed, especially Katee Sackhoff's pretty useless character. I was also disappointed that there was not a lot of action in this sequel -- although I did find bits of it to be cool. However it was just not enough to distract me from this film's shitty visuals and stupid dialogue.

My verdict: watch this film only if you want to see Riddick's cool eyes in and out of the dark.